Oil Slick Reaches Wildlife Refuge

Oil from a massive slick in the Gulf of Mexico has started washing ashore on an island chain off the coast of Louisiana, US officials have confirmed.

Pelicans and other birds covered in oil have been found on the uninhabited Chandeleur islands, which are part of the Breton National Wildlife Refuge. A federal maritime agency said there was "oiling all over" the islands.

On Thursday, the US Coast Guard confirmed for the first time oil had made its way past protective booms and was washing up on land.

Freemason Island, the southernmost of the "back islands" of the Chandeleur chain, was the first to be hit by a sheen of oil, although there was no evidence yet of medium or heavy crude, reports BBC News.

The Associated Press also reported that a pinkish oily substance was washing up to the north on New Harbor Island, on which mangroves serve as roosting habitat for thousands of frigatebirds.

Heavier concentrations of crude remain further offshore, and the Coast Guard said weather forecasts suggested it would stay there until the weekend.